The Casanova and The Blogger who called him out
by Not Just a Nerd
Summary: Karamel AU, in which Kara Danvers runs a blog that serves as a voice of the women whom actor Mike Matthews has scorned.
1. Chapter 1

Mike wakes up to the sound of his phone ringing very loudly. He half opens his eyes and vaguely registers the off white ceiling with the dark brown fan. This is clearly not his home, and he's not surprised. Groaning because the noise won't stop, he stretches his left hand out to reach for his phone. Instead, his finger touches fabric, cotton with a hint of lace, if he has to guess from experience. That brings a tiny smile to his face. He finally sits up, runs his hands over his face, and sighs. Last night was fun, from what he remembers, but now he has another killer hangover. Reaching to his right now, he finds his phone on the bed side table and finally answers the persistent call. "Hello?"

"Mike, where are you?" comes Winn's panicked voice from the other end.

"I'm at-" Mike begins, but then pauses. He's honestly not sure where he is. It's some hotel he checked into, probably, and Winn would have better luck running his credit card than asking him. "I don't know, Winn."

"Do you know who you are with at least?" Winn asks with the tiniest hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Of course I do! Her name is Tessa. Or Trisha. Or Bessy. Okay fine, I don't remember," he chuckles to himself, "But I can give you other details. _Much_ juicier ones."

He can hear Winn's disappointment through the phone. "Just get into my office as soon as you can."

"What's the rush? It's only-" he looks around the room for a clock, but finds none. He checks the time on the top right corner of his phone, and is a little shocked to see it read 12:15. "Wow, it's late. But it's my off day. I don't have any shoots scheduled."

Winn sighs. "It's not that. It's Danvers. She has posted another blog post."

"Shit" is all Mike can say before he hangs up.

* * *

Kara Danvers checks the hit counter on her blog. It's been only three hours since her last post, but it already has over twenty thousand views.

When she got her degree in journalism, her sister (adopted) expected her to follow the lead of her cousin (biological) and become a reporter at some newspaper. Kara had considered it for a while too. She even started working at a leading magazine named CatCo, but instead of exposés of crimes and thrilling whistleblowers, the job was fetching coffee and donuts for the boss. She was fine with it at first, hoping she could climb the ladder slowly.

But it all changed the day she found her friend Eve Tessmaker sobbing in the women's restroom because she just had her heart broken by a guy. As Eve described to her how this famous actor with the stage name Mon-el had been wooing her for months, with chocolates and flowers and sweet promises, only to get into her pants and swiftly ghost her, something in Kara had snapped. What happened to Eve was nothing illegal- it was consensual and there was no case to press charges. But it was a whole different story morally. The woman's emotions had been toyed with and she had basically been defrauded. Something needed to be done about it. Men like these couldn't be let off the hook.

That's when the idea of a blog first struck her. Her first ever blog post was getting Eve's story out to the world. It had been an instant hit, and was picked up by major online websites. Soon, Mon-el's agent Mr. Scott had threatened to sue CatCo, and Kara was instantly fired by Snapper Carr for going behind his back and starting a, quote-unquote, tabloid gossip blog.

It didn't matter though. This wasn't the first time Mon-el had done this to a woman. Many more women came forward to Kara to tell their stories, some with screenshots of texts or even photographs to corroborate their claims. Kara's blog became a huge success, and she was nicknamed "Supergirl" for standing up for the women who had no other means to seek justice for themselves.

Today's story is the fifty-third one she has posted about Mon-el. Heaven knows there are enough other playboys to expose too, but something about Mon-el personally irks her. Maybe it is his snarky attitude or him acting like he's the prince of the world. Or maybe it's just the way he treats women. The sight of Mon-el aka Mike Matthews's face makes Kara Danvers' blood boil.

* * *

Mike manages to maintain his composure while he reads the entire blog post, his rising eyebrows betraying his amusement at times. Finally, he closes the laptop and turns to Winn. "Can't we sue her for defamation?"

"Not when she's not spreading lies," Winn answers, probably for the tenth time this month. "Maybe we need to get the women you sleep with to sign an NDA."

"Nobody will sleep with me if you make them sign an NDA," Mike replies. "That's part of the thrill of hooking up with a movie star. You get to tell people the story afterwards. Bragging rights for _years_ and _years_."

"In case you didn't notice, man," Winn says with irritation, "the stories don't exactly paint you in a flattering light."

Mike shrugs. "Everything I do is perfectly legal and consensual. I'm not roofie-ing or raping women. I don't even get them drunk. I can't help it if the women fall in love with me and expect me to pursue a relationship after one night."

Winn rolls his eyes and glares at Mike all at the same time. His moral compass is beyond fixing, but the situation may not be yet. "Regardless, this is damaging your reputation. We need to do something about it."

Mike shrugs. "All right. What do you have in mind?"

Winn hesitates for a moment, mainly because he knows how Mike will react, but also because he himself is not entirely certain that this is a good idea. "I think it's time you and Miss Danvers had a face to face chat."

"About what?" Mike asks incredulously.

"I don't know. Maybe find a common ground? Reach a truce?"

Mike sends him a dirty look. "Isn't that what agents are for? No. Not just agents. Agent who happens to be my best friend."

"Your only friend if you keep up this kind of wild behaviour," Winn warns.

Mike brushes it off with just a wave of his hand. "What's Plan B?"

"There is no Plan B," Winn states firmly. "You're meeting Kara Danvers."

* * *

"You are not going to believe this, Alex," Kara tells her sister that night after dinner. "Mike Matthews wants to meet me."

Alex tenses, her protective older sister instincts overlapping with her FBI agent ones. "Should I be concerned?"

"Yeah, for him," Kara scoffs. "I have half a mind to punch him straight to another planet."

"Be careful, Kara," Alex warns. "You don't know what he's trying to pull."

Kara smiles at her sister reassuringly. "Don't worry. I'll call you if I need anything."


	2. Chapter 2

The meeting is set up at Mr. Winn Schott's office, so that it is private enough for people not to pry but public enough for Kara to feel safe. Mike arrives two hours late, as expected, looking much more disheveled than she's used to seeing him.

"Hi," he says curtly as he sits in the chair right in front of Kara. There's a small glass table separating them, and he resists the urge to rest his feet on them. "Have we checked her for bugs, Winn?"

"She's clean," Winn announces quickly. "She's also a very nice person," he adds, silently pleading with Mike to be nice to her.

Mike smirks at Kara. "A very nice person who's trying to sabotage my career. So, what's your deal?"

Kara looks him straight in the eyes. "I'm the blogger that's exposing your true face to the world."

"My true face?" Mike chuckles. "You don't know me, Danvers."

"The little I do know is quite sickening," Kara snaps back quickly.

Mike studies her for a moment. She has long, dark brown hair, brushed back and tied neatly with pins, rectangular glasses that she keeps adjusting, plain clothes- jeans and a top, like she's a high school teacher, but overall, she's quite attractive.

"What did I do to scorn you?" He finally asks.

"You play with women's hearts."

Mike shakes his head emphatically. "No. I mean, what did I do to scorn _you_? Look, I'll be honest with you. I can't always remember the girls I've slept with. There's been so many, after a while, it all just kind of blurs together. You are _very_ attractive, and I'd think I'd remember sleeping with you-"

Winn hides his face behind his hands as Kara sits in her chair speechless in disbelief.

"-but I don't. So I have to ask. Did I sleep with you?"

"Excuse me?" is all Kara manages to say after a minute.

Mike swings in his chair non-chalantly, twisting to his right and facing away from her. "Look, it's nothing personal. I'm sure you were wonderful and we had a great time. And I'm sorry I can't remember you, I truly am. But you don't have to drag my name through the mud over a one night stand. That's a little extreme, don't you think?"

"I did not sleep with you!" Kara screams, making Winn wince and Mike stop swinging in his chair, surprised by the sudden change in her demeanor. She stands up, and her towering figure over Mike sparks an awe in him. Her voice is unwavering but filled with emotions as she speaks. "I would hate myself if I slept with a slimy, misogynistic pig like you. I'd never degrade myself to that level. But of course you'd think that. You're just that shallow. You have no regard for the hearts you break or the lives you destroy. You cannot comprehend how your actions might affect somebody. You're just a fuck-boy who thinks he's so much better than everyone and he so deserves to be worshipped. Well, guess what, pal? You're just a sad, pathetic, sorry excuse of a human being."

Winn mentally gives the woman a standing ovation. He has watched his best friend be this horrible person for all these years, and astoundingly, he has still seen women throw themselves at his feet. At long last a woman has put him in his place, and he can't wait to see if this is the slap in the face Mike needed to wake up and be a better man, the man he could be, the man he once used to be.

Mike quickly collects himself. "Wow, that was a great speech. Very passionate and empowering. You should be on CNN."

Kara glares daggers at him. "Is this all a joke to you?"

"Not at all. I'm serious," Mike assures. "I'm here to negotiate. And if you're not a jilted lover, then what? Is it money you want? Cause I'm sure we can work out a deal."

Kara slams her fist on the table, and it shocks all three people in the room when it cracks the glass layer. With her shaking fist by her side, Kara shoots Mike with one last glare. "You're even worse than I imagined. I thought that maybe, maybe hearing the women's sides of the stories can get to you. But you, you are irredeemable."

With that, Kara turns around to leave.

"You're bleeding," Mike suddenly points out.

Kara looks down at her hand, and notices that her knuckles are indeed bloody.

"Winn," his voice is different now, calm and sincere. Kara mentally notes that he really _is_ a good actor. "Get her some bandages."

"No, thank you," Kara spits out the words with venom, before she storms out of the office.

* * *

Mike expects another blog post, this time about the encounter Supergirl herself had with him. But a week passes and nothing happens. She posts a story about another past lover of his, but nothing about them, and he realises she isn't going to.

Why, is beyond his comprehension. No woman has ever spoken to him the way that this blogger did, and something about it got to him. It intrigued him, to say the least, but more than that, it made him realise, for the first time in his life, that he may not be as perfect as he thinks he is.

"You're a dick," Winn tells him candidly. "Miss Danvers is just trying to be a voice for women. And you completely humiliated her and made it clear that you're a total dick. Everything you said to her, it was _so_ uncalled for. I should have known better. I should have known this is what you'd do, because you're a total dick-"

"-Because I'm a total dick," Mike echoes. "I get that, Winn."

"Do you?" Winn challenges. "Then I pray to God that you _do something about it_."

And that's exactly what Mike has in mind.


	3. Chapter 3

Getting her number is easy. The hard part is typing it out on his phone and actually hitting call. After three failed attempts, he finally masters enough courage to do it at 10 p.m.

Kara is just settling in with her mug of coffee and her blanket to watch reruns of her favorite sitcom when her phone rings. "Hello?" She answers, balancing the phone between her ear and her shoulder while she grabs the remote to mute the television.

Mike swallows. Just hearing her voice brings up this weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. He can't put a name to it- he's never felt it before- but he's sure he doesn't like it. "Hey," he starts with a shaky voice, then clears his throat. "It's me, Mike. Please don't hang up."

Kara is taken completely by surprise. She was _so_ not expecting this call. "Why are you calling me? Did you have an insult you forgot to add when we met?"

Mike winces. "Look, I- it's been pointed out to me that I was kind of an ass to you, and I think I may have been. I just wanted to apologise for my behavior-"

"-Save it," Kara cuts him off sternly, before he can finish reading off a statement, which is what she _knows_ he is. "You can tell your publicist not to worry. I'm not going to run a story about our encounter. I don't act on personal vendetta. That's not the kind of person I am. So you can relax and go back to whatever woman is currently in your bed."

Mike glances over his room quickly. It's as empty and lonely as it's always been. A giant bed, a dozen pillows, sheets with ridiculous threadcounts, curtains that his interior decorator specifically picked for this season, and a highly priced painting called the "Fortress of solitude" - that's all there is in his room. He had considered placing a family photo by his bedside, but what's the point? He hasn't spoken to his parents for over fifteen years now, not since his father cheated on his mother and his mother retaliated by stabbing him in the chest. Things hadn't been better before that either, there were the constant fights and the disappointment of never meeting his mother's expectations. But the stabbing was the last straw. He ran away from home and straight to LA. He is lucky to have made it the way he did. But he is still lonely. No matter how many women he has slept with, there is nobody he has _connected_ with, ever. All he knows is the thrill of the chase and the high of the conquest. And for the first time in his life, he's starting to see the ugly side of it.

"How's your hand?" He asks, his voice so soft that it surprises even him.

"Fine," she answers curtly. "Can you mail me the bill for the damages to your property?"

"Don't worry about it," Mike assures sincerely.

It's Kara's turn to hesitate before she speaks. "I may not like you, but violence is never the answer, and I'm sorry."

"No, no, it's my fault," Mike argues, "I pushed you to it. Besides, it's not like you hurt anyone, except yourself."

"Right," Kara trails off, unsure what else to say. She can feel the volcanic anger in her starting to dissipate. It's like she's talking to a completely different person. She's not buying this sweet and sensitive act of his for a second, but thankfully, being civil to each other is doing wonders for her own mental health.

Mike takes in a deep breath. "I was wondering if I could see you again. I hate how we left things off the last time."

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea," Kara tells him honestly.

"I understand," he says quietly. "Anyways, have a nice weekend."

"You too," she replies before she hangs up.

* * *

It's the first week without any new stories from women. Kara guesses he got them to sign NDAs when he couldn't get through to her.

That's fine with her. These women know what kind of monster he is and are still putting themselves at the palm of his hands. They have been warned and they have chosen to ignore the warnings. There is nothing more she can do for them.

* * *

Her parents (adopted) visit next week, and she finally relaxes, surrounded by the people she loves. Her father gets them tickets to a play for Tuesday, and they're all excited for their first family outing in months.

It turns out to be a play Mon-el is starring in. Kara pales when she notices his name on the signs outside. This has _got_ to be fate taunting her.

"What is it, honey?" Her mother, Elizah, enquires to Alex in a hushed tone.

"You couldn't have gotten us tickets to another play? _Any_ other play?" Alex snaps back, half annoyed and half panicked. "That's the guy Kara blogs about."

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, sweetheart," her father, Jeremiah, apologizes immediately. He places a hand on Kara's shoulders gently. "Forget the play. We don't have to watch that. We can just go to dinner."

In a split second, Kara makes up her mind. She's an adult, and she can do this. "No, no. It's fine. Let's watch the play. I've heard it's really good."

Alex eyes her skeptically. "Are you sure?"

Kara sucks in a deep breath. "Positive."

* * *

It's another night, another performance, the same other feeling of something being terribly wrong. Mike puts on his show face and goes on with the role. Thirty minutes into the play, he spots Kara, sitting in the middle of the theatre, her eyes glued on him. He is so shocked that he freezes on stage for a moment. At the same time, he feels some kind of invisible weight lift off his shoulder. He carries out with the rest of the show feeling much happier than he has in a long time.

Kara, for her part, is mesmerized by Mon-el's performance of the charming gentleman wooing a Victorian lady. She manages to put aside their personal enmity and actually enjoy the play.

"That play was something," Jeremiah comments at the end of it, unsure what else to say.

"Mon-el's a great actor, I'll give him that," Kara admits.

Elizah puts on her coat and they are ready to leave, when an usher meets them on the way. "Miss Kara Danvers? Hi! Mr. Matthews would like to have you join him backstage. I mean, he said, he's really happy to see you here and would love to talk to you if you'd be willing to?"

Kara's eyebrows rise up in amusement. Is he trying to charm her? Into what? Not publishing her stories? Isn't that already taken care of? Or are there more ghosts in his past? What exactly is he trying to pull?

There is no reason for her to go. She can tell him to screw himself and just get out of there. But something in her keeps her from doing just that- she'd like to call it curiosity. She excuses herself from her family, assuring them she'll be fine, and tells the usher to lead the way.


End file.
